Miller Magazine Issue: 125 May 2020

81 TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM MILLER / MAY 2020 In which other countries is Mysilo currently conduct- ing projects? It would be wrong to say “this and that area are dense”. We have a diversified market. In fact, this gives us an ad- vantage. Every year, different markets can be active or pas- sive. We observe that the data monitoring and automa- tion process is becoming increasingly important in grain storage, as in many areas. Could you share the solutions and works you provide on this matter with us? As Mysilo, we work hard on this issue. Every day more and more questions are coming from our customers on these issues. Thanks to the software and automation sys- tems we produce in our R&D structure, we now have some practices other than classical methods. By monitoring the quality, temperature, and humidity of the stored products, we minimize operator errors to a minimum thanks to the automatic aeration system. Along with fumigation systems, we offer our customers advanced smart systems and automation systems that allow tracking and reporting of level and volume data, storing the grain for a longer time without deterioration or loss of quality, from the moment it enters the facility until it exits the facility. The coronavirus, which almost captured the world, hit international trade. International circulation has been restricted. At this point, I want to ask two questions. First, how did these restrictions affect your raw material supply? Second, how have your overseas projects been affected by these measures? We had no problems with the progress of pro- duction in accordance with our plans and in our raw material inventory management processes. First, we never closed our factory in this process. We continued production in the usual capacity and plan. Secondly, we have a strong raw material in- ventory. We stick by the deadlines and the plan. However, we have experienced short-term delays in shipments due to travel restrictions, particularly in highway transports. I would also like to state that we have positively concluded the agreements of our numerous proj- ects which we have been pursuing thanks to the trust we have provided to our customers in this crit- ical period. After the coronavirus pandemic broke out, we have seen that many countries, primarily North African countries, imported grains in panic to en- sure the food security of their populations. The vital importance of grain storage capacities has been understood in this process. Can you share your thoughts on this matter with us? How will this pandemic affect the future of your industry? In general, all states have a long-term policy of keeping stock for emergency states. With this pandemic, the follow- ing is understood: Governments saw how realistic and indis- pensable this policy is. However, the stocks of many coun- tries were finished, they were caught either with insufficient stocks or just nothing. Now, countries have stopped trading grain, and everyone is preoccupied with their own troubles. Therefore, in the future, all states will try to keep their stocks more abundant against the state of emergency. In this con- text, the importance of warehousing activities will increase. Can you give us information about Turkey's grain stor- age capacity? Does Turkey have sufficient capacity? Well, we can talk about this very topic based on the data of the Turkish Grain Board (TMO). As far as I know, 34 mil- lion tons of grain is produced in Turkey on average and 70 percent of this is used to be placed on the market. We can store 18 million tons of grain in licensed warehouses. 13